"Powerless against a lustful husband and blind to the harsh
realities of chattel slavery, the enraged wife often vented her jealous
rage upon the one person whom she could control, the black woman."
English law governed the "American" English colonists. The
Virginia Colony was an English franchise. The English colonies adopted
most of the components of English Law which included statutory rape
provisions. The colonists were also governed by a militaristic code of
"Lawes, Divine, Morall and Martiall, based on the Bible. These
moralistic laws did not prevent the exploitation of female servants by
male masters. Male and female Africans were brought by ship to
Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. These Africans were not considered slaves.
Prior to the arrival of Africans, most distinctions between peoples were
based on class and intra-European ethnic divisions. White immigrants
were brought to the colonies to meet the inordinate need for labor.
Although the Africans in the colonies were not slaves they did not have
legal protections equal to that of the White non-servant colonists from
Europe. As the benefits of slavery increased the profits of the European
colonists, legal protections for Blacks within the colony became the
exception to the rule. Indians were also enslaved in several of the
colonies.

Colonial laws regarding statutory rape were not applied to Blacks and
Indians. Indians and Blacks, as well as their children, were prohibited
by law from defending themselves against abuse, sexual and otherwise, at
the hands of Whites. A slave who defended herself against the attack of
a White person was subject to cruel beatings by either the master or
mistress. Liaisons between Whites and Blacks or Indians were illegal.
The females of color received the harshest punishment if discovered in a
liaison with a White male. Females of color, regardless of their young
age, were viewed as seducers of White men. Pregnancy became the evidence
of the illegal liaison. A mulatto baby the indicator of the race of the
father - White male. The child, by statute took the status of the mother
and is thus born into slavery. The full benefit of the relationship and
the off-spring enured to the White male. Under English precedent, the
status of children was determined by the father. The colonists changed
the law to increase the wealth and domination of the White master who
had eliminated certain costs of purchasing human labor by becoming
"a breeder of slaves." The Black female, woman or child, was
forced into sexual relationships for the White slave masterís pleasure
and profit.

White and African abolitionists condemned slavery but often for very
different reasons. White abolitionists in Massachusetts in 1712
condemned slavery, not for its diabolical construct, but because the
Certain Whites argued for the importation of more White servants and an
end to slavery because African slaves were having a negative effect on
White servants. The plight of Black and Indian girls sexually abused by
their White Masters was a known "secret" of slavery. The
girls, their plight ignored, unprotected by law or policy, persevered in
silence. Even if the girls acquiesced, consent assumes a right of
refusal. Although the institution of slavery remained, the 1807 Foreign
Slave Trade Bill proposed the ending of the trafficking of African human
deeming it to be "contrary to the principles of justice humanity
and sound policy." It was not a decision based solely on altruism.
The drastic drop in profits, a surplus supply of sugar, a fear of
continued slave rebellions, in addition to the pressure of
abolitionists, led England to abolish its role in the slave trade.

The institution of slavery ended in England. However, it continued
with reckless abandon in the United States. Enslaving African human
beings was a profitable enterprise for America, especially in the South.
African human beings were legally considered chattel or moveable
property in certain Southern cities. Yet, at the same time, free
Africans were an active part and sometimes highly educated members of
the community at large. Enslaved Africans were debased for the benefit
of certain Whites. Their plight as accepted "as natural" by
the majority of American society. Not all Whites owned slaves. But, the
American socio-political and economic structure was formed with Blacks
as a disenfranchised group. The life of sexual debasement and cruelty
which was the reality of female slaves was largely ignored by White
Christian society in America.

Always Under Construction!

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section 107, some material on this website is provided for comment,
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Last Updated:
Wednesday, April 25, 2012

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Since Sept. 11, 2001

Thanks to Derrick Bell and his pioneer work:
Race, Racism and American Law (1993).